A 15-year-old Absegami High School student is in trouble for bringing a loaded gun to school, causing the school to be locked-down Friday afternoon.

Chris Coleman/Townsquare Media

According to Galloway Township Police via a Facebook post, Absegami High School officials received information that a student was carrying a gun on the school's campus around 2:00 Friday afternoon. At the time, the accused student was in gym class, outside by the school's football field bleachers. Galloway Township Police, along with school personnel, located the student outside.

As the school was placed on lock-down, the accused student observed officers approaching and, police say, reportedly put his hand into his pants pocket, grasp something, and ran out of view of officers. Once officers made contact with him at the edge of the bleachers, he was detained. He did not have a weapon in his possession nor anything in his pockets at that time.

Fearing for student safety and the possibility that a gun was passed to another student, police ordered all students in the area to lay on the ground and be searched. Following a search of the school grounds, police found a .380 Jimenez Arms automatic pistol with five rounds, one loaded in the chamber, under the bleachers.

The accused student, a 15-year-old male from Galloway, was arrested and charged with possession of a weapon, unlawful possession of a weapon, possession of a weapon on school property, and possession of a defaced firearm. The student was taken to the Atlantic County Juvenile Detention Center.